Turning back to Isaiah chapter
26. And our text tonight is found
at verse 13. O Lord our God, our Lord beside
Thee, have had dominion over us, but by Thee only will we
make mention of Thy Name. Isaiah 26, 13. O Lord our God, other lords beside
thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only will we make
mention of thy name. You may recall that at last Lord's
Day evening we were considering the end of the chapter and those
words at verse 20, in particular, come my people, enter thou into
thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee. as it were, for a
little moment until the indignation be overpassed. And then we were
thinking about the chambers of safety, and we considered it
in a threefold sense. I spoke of it in terms of God's
covenant, of God's gracious purpose in that covenant, The wise man
tells us in Proverbs the name of the Lord is a strong tower
and the righteous runneth into it and is safe. There's the chamber
of safety then in the name of the Lord they shall call his
name Jesus or he shall save his people from their sins. He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
he is Jehovah Jesus. Observe here how that this word
that we were looking at last week is addressed to the Lord's
people, come my people, he says. The foundation of God standeth
sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
his and they're chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of
the world. But besides that chamber, of
safety, which is God's purpose in the covenant. I also remarked
on another chamber, chambers here, it's in the plural. And
that other chamber that I spoke of was that provision that is
laid up in Christ Jesus, the pardon of all our sins. Our believers
are those who must shelter under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now it's wonderfully typified
to us in the experience of the children of Israel, connected
as chapter 12. There, of course, we have the
account of the tenth plague that comes upon the Egyptians, a terrible
plague where all the firstborn of the Egyptians were destroyed
by the angel of the Lord. But the Hebrews are safe. They must remain in their houses,
having slain the Passover lamb the blood being applied upon
the side post and the lintels, and there they must remain inside
their own houses, and the destroying angel will not come near to them. Here is surely a great chamber
of safety, sheltering under the blood of Christ, and all of that
that we read in Exodus 12 is a type of the Lord Jesus. As Paul says, even Christ, our
apostle, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. And then the third chamber, we
just spoke of three, I'm sure there are many more than just
three chambers of safety, but the third chamber I spoke of
last time was that of the believers' prayers. Thinking of the words
of the Lord Jesus, remember we've been considering something of
what Christ says in Matthew chapter six concerning the pattern prayer,
the Lord's prayer, but in the context there, what does the
Lord say previously? Matthew 6, 5, when thou prayest,
he says, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they
like to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners
of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say
unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly, or the secret place
of the most high. Now this is where God's people
are to seek his face, go into that chamber of prayer and to
call upon his name, come. My people, says God, enter thou
into thy chambers, shut thy doors about them, hide thyself, as
it were, for a little moment, until the indignation be overpassed. And we observe the very manner of
coming, the strength of the verbs that are used in that verse.
Come, says God, enter. Shut the door. Oh, there's a
blessed abiding in that place. That's how we're to come, we're
to come in faith. We see it previously at verse three. God says, well,
the prophet says concerning God, thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is standing on thee because he trusteth in
thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever. For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting
strength. or when by faith the mind is
stayed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Not really done much reading
today with the way events have worked out, but just dipping
again into some of the writings of Martin Luther, I was very
struck when I read this passage. He's commenting really upon faith
and what we are told concerning faith at the beginning of Hebrews
11, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. And remarking on the particular
word that's used there, the substance of things hoped for, and this
is what Luther says, I'll just read this extract, I could read
so many extracts of real prophet, arguably, the great reformer,
but he says this, concerning that Greek word that's rendered
substance, He says, that is, a firm and sure confidence of
expectation, resting on the word of God as a firm and immovable
foundation. For that faith, which is truly
a faith in the word of God, ought to be that firmness and stability
of mind which neither shakes nor wavers, nor is moved from
its point, nor trembles, nor looks this way and that, with
anxiety. but which firmly and steadily
rests on a sure and immovable foundation. That is the Word
of God. What a blessing that it is the
Word of God that we have before us tonight and we seek to consider
it and to understand it and to centre and settle our faith in
it. Well, having said all of that,
reminding you of things we were saying last time, I want to concentrate
then more particularly on the manner of our coming. How are
we to come to the chamber of safety? How are we to come to
the Lord our God? And I think we see something
of that manner of coming in the words that I've announced for
a text, the words of verse 13. O Lord our God, are the lords
beside thee about dominion over us? That by thee only will we
make mention of thy name. And the two parts of the verse,
first of all there's confession. That's the first part of the
verse. Other lords beside thee have
had dominion over us. And then, having made that confession,
there is an expression of confidence in God, but by thee only will
we make mention of thy name. Confession and confidence, or
we might say repentance and faith. The confession that goes with
repentance, the confidence, that goes with faith. And then these
two things, of course, in the child of God are concurrent.
When the Lord Jesus begins his ministry, what is the message?
We see it there in the opening chapter of Mark, after the imprisonment
of John the Baptist, the Lord's forerunner, that the Lord then
appears. And what does he say? The time
is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand,
repentually. and believe the gospel. That's
his message. Repent ye and believe the gospel. We see the same in the apostles
and their ministry when Paul gives charge to the Ephesian
elders in Acts chapter 20 and reminds them of his ministry.
What was it? Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. So as I say, I want to follow
that very simple division, the confession that goes with repentance
and the confidence that is associated with saving faith. First of all
then, the confession. O Lord, our God, are the Lords
beside thee of our dominion over us? What is the context here? They're having to confess, really,
their foolish, idolatrous ways. They had served other gods. They
had served gods of their own making. They'd served idols.
That was the reason for the Babylonian captivity. If it's not so much
the captivity that he's being spoken of in that portion that
we read in chapters 45 and 46, but what happened after the captivity
when God raised up Cyrus would be their deliverer. Previous
to that, of course, 70 years previous to that, they'd been
taken away into exile. And why did God do it? It was
because, principally, of their idolatrous ways. The prophet
Jeremiah, in the second chapter of his book, says, my people
have committed two evils. Their forsaken men, the fountain
of living waters, and you to themselves, broken cisterns that
can hold no water at all. They've forsaken the true God,
and what have they replaced that fountain of living waters with?
The broken cisterns, their own idols. And though here the prophet
Isaiah, ministering about a hundred years before that terrible event
of the captivity came upon them, how he speaks time and again
of their idolatry. We saw it there at the end of
chapter 45 and then in chapter 46. And it's interesting because
in some ways what we have in chapter 46, the verse five following,
is a repetition of what we have previously in chapter 14. Look
at the language in chapter 14, verse 18. God says, to whom then
will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven
image, Goldsmiths privileged over with gold and cartered silver
chains. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation, chooseth a tree that will not rot. He
seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare him a graven image
that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? Have ye not
heard? Has it not been told you from
the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the
circle of the earth. And the inhabitants thereof are
as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain,
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Oh, what comparison
can be made between the lawful God and these vain idols? Oh, how God did visit upon them
the punishment of their sin. They were such an idolatrous
people. And so God comes. And now, that
prophet Michael, who's contemporary with Isaiah, is also one who
reminds them of their father. He says in the opening chapter
of verse three, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
The mountain shall be molten under him and the valley shall
be clear as wax before the fire and as the waters that are poured
down asleep place. For the transgression of Jacob
is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What
is the transgression of Jacob? Is he not Samaria? And what are
the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? Oh, the
wickedness of God's ancient people. And here is the confession of
their idolatry. O Lord, our God, are the Lord
beside thee? of our dominion over us. Now we might not make our idols
of gold and of silver, but do we not make idols of other things? We read in the New Testament
even of that covetousness which is idolatry. Now God's people
are to mortify all these things. Mortify therefore your members
upon earth, says Paul, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evocant duplicence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. If this is
the call of God, then we too must confess other laws besides
they that have dominion over us. How will we behave ourselves? How have we conducted ourselves?
Have we not sought only to satisfy the idol of self? wanting our
own way, wanting that that we would desire above and before
all else. There is in here the confession,
the confession of idolatry. But also, in this we see a confession
of the bondage of indwelling sin, a confession of the power
of sin. These lords, it says, had dominion. They had dominion over us. It's
the power of sin. And how the believer feels that.
Oh, in the words of the familiar hymn, Rock of Ages, we see it
in Toplater, thee of sin the double cure, cleanse me from
its guilt and power. For we need to be delivered not
only from the guilt of our sins, the cause for God's terrible
judgment upon us, we need to be delivered from the power of
sin, what a grip it can hold. The psalmist cries out, iniquities
prevail against me. Do we not feel that at times,
iniquities prevail, the old nature? All wretched man that I am, says
Paul, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? How we
fear it, the carnal mind, the natural mind, it's enmity against
God, it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
they. But when David comes before the
Lord in his great confessional psalm, Psalm 51, what does he
say? Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. He's not making an excuse
for himself. He's not saying, I can't help
it. It's my nature. It's the way I am. No, he acknowledges
against thee, thee only have I sinned. and on this evil in
God's sight, he feels that his sin is a great and grievous offense
against God. And don't just God's dealings
are in the punishment of sins. But what does God say? In those words we were looking
at last time, verse 20, he says, come my people. Come my people. And again, in
that passage that we read in chapter 45, where he speaks of
the deliverance that will come by that man from the East, Cyrus,
that he has raised up, he says, These shall let go my captives. Even when they're in captivity,
even when they're in the very grip of the punishment that God
is visiting upon them, We might say, when we're in the very grip
of their sins and the consequence of their sins, they're still
gods, my people, my captives, he says. And how God deals with
his people, and how does he deal? He deals in the way of chastening,
he deals in the way of correction, and that's God's strange work.
That's God's strange work. We have it here in chapter 28,
21, the Lord shall rise up, as in Mount Barasi, he shall
be wroth, as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work,
his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act. And we've said that in the present
situation we're in, this pandemic, and all that's going on all around
us in this nation, amongst the nations of the earth, we're aware
of God doing his strange work, But as we've said many a time,
that judgment must begin at the house of God. All one has got
to do, is he not dealing with us, whom the Lord loveth? He
chastened us and scourged every son of every receiver. If ye
enjoy chastening God, dealeth with you as with sons. What son
is he whom the Father chastened us not? If he's our father, he
will correct us for our sins. What are we to do? We're to examine
ourselves. Prove your own selves, says Paul. No, you're not your own selves.
And that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprimanded. Look
at what he goes on to say here at verse 16. Lord, in trouble
have they visited thee. They poured out a prayer when
thy chastening was upon them. Oh, and the Lord has stood as
to cause us to pray. This is what the Lord does. The
psalmist says, when thou says, seek in my face, my heart said,
unto thee thy face, Lord will I seek. How does God say to us,
seek in my face? Or does he not speak to us as
we have it here in verse 16? He visits us with trouble. What are we to do? We're to put
out our prayers. We're to come, we're to make
our confession. O Lord, our God, other lords,
besides they about dominion over us. What's the confession of
sin? It's the spirit of repentance.
It's the acknowledgement of the awful bondage of our indwelling
sin and our idolatrous ways. But that is but one part. In
the second part of the text, we also have what I said is the
confidence of faith in God. And look at what it says here. It says, by thee only, by thee
only will we make mention of thy name. We're going back to
verse 12, the end of that verse. also as wrought all our works
in us. Now we have to look to the Lord
for everything. It's looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. Where do we obtain faith? We
cannot give ourselves faith. And when the Lord is dealing
with us, and well-meaning people might come and tell us it's our
duty, to believe, and we cannot believe. Or what cruelty really
that is, it's like striking that dying man dead, they tell us
what we're to do, we cannot do the thing that they're telling
us to do. When the Lord has shut us in and shut us up to our native
unbelief and made us feel what we are as those who are dead,
in trespasses and sins, our spiritual impotence, our utter inability,
it is the Lord who must Work that faith in us. Thou also has
wrought all our work. Now, I said that these two, repentance
and faith, are concurrent, and I believe they are in the experiences
of the people of God. These things stand together.
But we remember this, that faith really has the priority. Faith
must have the priority. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. he that cometh to him must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. Whatsoever is not in faith is
sin. We cannot have true repentance without faith. That sorrow of
the world, it only works death, godly sorrow. A godly sorrow
associated with faith, that looking to the Lord, that seeing the
awful nature of our sin in the sufferings of Christ. Godly sorrow
worketh repentance and salvation not to be repented of, says the
Apostle. Or there must then be that privacy that we give to
faith, because faith is that looking to the Lord and that
trusting in the Lord. What do we see here? We see confidence
in God as Saviour. We read of making mention of
thy name. Making mention of thy name. What
is it to make mention of God's name? It's to recognize that
God has made himself known. God's name is really the revelation
of himself. And you can think of the experience
of a man like Jacob, in Genesis 32, there at the book of Pena,
He's returning now, having been all those years with his uncle
laboring, and he's been prospered. He has his wives, Rachel and
Leah, and his concubines, and all his family, and he's fearful.
What would be the reaction of his brother, Esau? And he sends all his family and all his servants
before him and he's left alone and he comes to the brook Jabbok
and there the angel comes and wrestles with him. A remarkable
incident recorded in Genesis 32. And he's wrestling all night
with the angel. The day begins to dawn and he
says to the angel, tell thee I pray thee thy name. He wants
to know the name of the angel. Who is the angel? It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. The
very name that he gives to that place, Penia, the Hebrew means
the face of God. The face of God. And where is
the face of God? Well, we quoted those lovely
words in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, this morning. God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, given
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He saw the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember there, his name
was changed. No more Jacob, the supplanter,
but now Israel, the prince with God. He wrestled with the angel,
he prevailed. Or is there a true Israelite?
An Israelite indeed, in whom is no God, is a spiritual Israelite.
And that's true of all God's spiritual Israel. Or they make
mention of the name of the Lord, that God who has revealed himself
and revealed himself where? In Christ, the image of the invisible
God. Again, we can think of the experience
of the parents of Samson, in the book of Judges when that
same angel, the angel of the Lord appears first to Manoah's
wife and then the angel appears also to Manoah himself. Remember what we're told in that
13th chapter, the experience of Manoah. Verse 17, Manoah said
unto the angel of the Lord, what is thy name? that when thy sayings
come to pass, we may do thee honor. And the angel of the Lord
said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it
is secret? Now, that word, secret, it's
exactly the same word that we have in Isaiah 9.6. The margin
here in my Bible may be in yours also, gives that alternative
rendering. Why askest thou after my name,
seeing it is wonderful? Remember, it's the same word,
as I said, that we have here in Isaiah 9.6, and what is it? It's that reference to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it's the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. that
child born, that son given. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful, Secret, Counselor, the Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. All by thee
only do we make mention of thy name, Isn't that name of the
Lord Jesus Christ all our prayer and all our plea when we come
before the Lord God? The angel says to Joseph, they
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. And think of all the dreadful
tyranny of those idols of the lords beside thee have had dominion
over us. With all those sins, those tyrannical
sins that have had dominion over us. All when we come and we plead
this name. By thee only will we make mention
of thy name. Verse 14, they are dead. They
shall not be. They are deceased. They shall
not rise. Therefore as they have visited
and destroyed them and made all their memory to or he buries
our sins in the very depths of the sea. He removes them from
us as far as the east is from the west. This is that great
work that is done by the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, going back
to what we read previously in that ninth chapter concerning
the Lord Jesus and his great work Chapter 9, verse 4, Thou hast
broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian, wherein
battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments
rolled in blood. But this shall be with burning
and purer fire, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,
and the government upon his shoulder. Oh, he has vanquished all those
powers of darkness. He has overcome all our sins. What has he done? Why? He has
taken those very sins and he has nailed them to his bloody
cross. The language again of the apostle
writing there in Colossians. Colossians 2, 14, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the Word, nailing it to his
cross. and having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. For this is the one that we are
to place our trust in, or to know that blessed confidence
of faith as he comes, having accomplished salvation, historically,
here upon the earth in the fullness of the time when he comes and
he accomplishes that salvation experimentally in our hearts. By thee only, by thee only will
we make mention of thy name. We are to have our confidence
then in him who is the only saviour. He's the only saviour of sinners. He's able to save from the uttermost
to the uttermost. And then of course here, as there
is confidence in him and his great work of salvation, so there
is that confidence in God as that one who is sovereign. For
the sovereignty of the grace of God is by thee, O man. What does the Lord Jesus say
to the Jews in John 8, 24? If you believe not that I am
thee, ye shall perish in your sin. if ye believe not that I
am early. And if you look it up, you'll
see he, pronoun in italics, literally, that word has been introduced
in the translation, what he said to them, if ye believe not that
I am, if ye believe not that I am, ye shall perish in your
sins. Well, we have to confess him
as our God and our Savior, the one who is able to save. Thou
also was brought all our works in us, we want him to come and
to establish his reign of grace. We are instructed by the Lord
Jesus himself, as we've seen recently on Thursday evenings
in that pattern prayer, we have to pray, thy kingdom come. And
we want that kingdom to come. And we want him to be established
in us, we want him to reign. To reign over us. To subdue all
our iniquities. To deliver us from all our unbelief. or to scatter all that unbelief
from us. We want that faith that is of
the operation of God. And now the Lord in bringing
us to that, brings us to the complete and utter end of ourselves. That's what he brings us to,
the end of ourselves. And then he says, come, come
my people, enter thou into thy chambers, Shut thy nose about
thee, hide thyself, as it were, for a little while, until the
indignation be overpassed. Oh, the gracious invitation of
the gospel, this blessed word, it's a gospel word, is it not?
Come. And that's what he says to us as sinners, come. It's
almost the last word we have in Holy Scripture there in Revelation
22, the Spirit and the bride say, come, and let him that heareth
say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will,
let him take of the water of life freely. O God, grant that
we might know what it is to come and take this salvation that
is so free for sinners. Well, the Lord be pleased to
bless his word to us tonight. Let us now conclude our worship today as
we sing our closing praise number 241. The tune is 142. Repentance is a gift bestowed
to save a soul from death. Gospel repentance towards God
is always joined to faith. The hymn 241.